New pro basketball team takes the court at Hinkle Fieldhouse last
month.

If you haven't heard of the Indiana Legends, you're in
good company. The Legends are one of eight teams currently competing in
the fledgling ABA 2000, the Indianapolis-based reincarnation of the
league with the red-white-and-blue ball, the league that spawned the
Indiana Pacers, now of the NBA.

Perhaps the biggest challenge has been the timing. The Legends
didn't enjoy the kind of promotional build-up that one normally
might think would accompany the birth of a new pro sports franchise
because the team was born prematurely.

"We thought we were going to have a team in Jacksonville, and
that did not happen. The league decided we needed an eighth team, so we
ratcheted up the introduction of the Indiana team to this year"
instead of 2002, explains Allan Zukerman, Legends CEO and co-owner and
the "Z" in the Indianapolis advertising agency MZD.

"We started working on it about the middle of November,"
Zukerman says. "We really didn't want to announce a team until
we really had a team to announce." That explains why a lot of
people missed hearing about the launch of the team until the Legends
showed up on the court, ready to play, in early January. Short gestation
period aside, the team is here, and it already includes one genuine
legend. Fans who recall the glory days of the ABA will recognize Billy
Keller, an Indiana Pacer from 1966-1977, now coaching the Legends. In
the driver's seat as general manager is Matt Ingram, who brings a
variety of pro-sports management experience with stints in minor-league
baseball and hockey as well as arena football.

"Indiana was always at the front of everyone's mind"
when planning the revival of the ABA, Ingram says. "Indiana was the
linchpin of the old ABA. How can you bring back the ABA without
Indiana?"

Though the inaugural season of ABA 2000 does, indeed, include
Indiana, it still is missing stands full of rabid Indiana basketball
fans. More than 2,000 showed up for the home opener, but attendance has
dwindled enough in subsequent home games to bring the average down to
about 1,200, fifth in the eight-team league.

The Legends, therefore, are in the midst of two campaigns: one on
the court and one off. On the court things could he better, as the
Legends are hovering around the .500 mark. Off the court the Legends are
displaying a combination of persistence and patience.

"We have to continue marketing ourselves and projecting the
image that there is something different here," Ingram says.

It shouldn't be too tough of a sell, really. This is, indeed,
a different breed of basketball. All eight teams are averaging well
above a hundred points a game, an average all but unheard of in the NBA.
And as Ingram points out, it's not because of lousy defense. Among
the new ABA's quirky rules are defensive incentives that include an
extra point for baskets scored off of turnovers that happen before
midcourt.

Also working in the Legends' favor is the value. The whole
family can get into a Legends game and eat hot dogs for less than the
price of one average ticket to see the Pacers play at Conseco
Field-house. Parking is limited but free. And those pricey cups of beer?
Not a problem at a Legends game, because a beer is hard to find at any
price. Organizers hope such family-oriented entertainment will succeed
in drawing fans, not just from Indianapolis but from such nearby cities
as Anderson, Kokomo, Muncie and Bloomington.

So what will it take to bring Legends attendance up to the 5,000
average that its owners hope to see? Lots of publicity, Zukerman says.
For the most part, its been hard to come by in the local paper, which
buries routine Legends game coverage deep in the sports section and
keeps it as short as a paragraph or two. "We can provide good,
exciting entertainment," Zukerman says. "We have to look for
ways we can get noticed."

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS: ENTREPRENEURS OF THE YEAR

Those eligible include owners and managers who have primary
responsibility for the growth of a company. If it's a public
company, the founder must be an active member in top management.
Companies must have been operating for at least two years.
Self-nominations are encouraged, as are those from suppliers, customers,
advisers and others who work with entrepreneurs.

The call is out for nominations for this year's Entrepreneur
of the Year awards, organized by Ernst & Young. The awards honor
entrepreneurs--by various categories and industries--who have shown
excellence and success, as demonstrated by innovation, financial
performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities.

Winners in the regional contests are eligible to compete for
national Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards. And this
year marks the first time that national winners will compete for a World
Entrepreneur of the Year award.

Nominations are due April 6, and there is no nomination fee. For
information, call Sandy Keevil at 317/681-7239, or visit the Ernst &
Young Web site at www.ey.com/us/eoy.

COPYRIGHT 2001 Curtis Magazine Group, Inc.
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.